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Rumor Killer: Brand Split Will NOT End In 2019

Posted By: Thomas Lowson on Nov 23, 2018

The WWE brand split will not end in 2019, despite speculation that it would due to the Fox deal, according to Dave Meltzer.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer disputed the claims that the roster would become one again, to allow more high-profile stars to appear on SmackDown when the brand moves to Fox Sports next year.

He said: "There was speculation going around that with the move to FOX that they would go to one brand because they would need all the top stars on FOX because of how important network primetime numbers are.

“That was denied to us and said that FOX doesn’t really want to cross-promote the same talent as NBC Universal and the expectation is split crews would remain.”

The original brand split started in 2002, with RAW and SmackDown remaining separate until 2011.

In 2016, SmackDown went live on Tuesday nights, and the brand split was re-introduced.

Each year since, the WWE has had 'Superstar Shake-Ups', allowing superstars to move brands.